Glossary · UK
What is Occupational Sick Pay?
An employer's own, typically more generous, contractual sick pay scheme that tops up or replaces Statutory Sick Pay, often paying full or part salary for a set number of weeks.
Full Definition
Occupational sick pay (sometimes called company sick pay or contractual sick pay) is sick pay an employer chooses, or is contractually obliged, to provide on top of -- or instead of -- the legal minimum Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which for 2026/27 is a flat £123.25 a week for up to 28 weeks and is often far below an employee's normal earnings. Unlike SSP, which is a legal minimum with fixed eligibility rules and a fixed rate set by the government each year, occupational sick pay schemes are entirely at the employer's discretion (unless written into a contract, staff handbook or collective agreement, at which point they become legally binding), so the amount paid, how long it lasts, and how it scales with length of service vary enormously between employers -- some offer full pay for a matter of weeks rising with seniority, others offer nothing beyond the SSP minimum. Where an employer does offer occupational sick pay, it usually operates on top of SSP rather than as a separate additional payment, meaning the total received in a pay period is usually the higher occupational rate rather than SSP plus occupational pay added together, and the scheme rules will typically set out how much notice and evidence (such as a fit note) is required to qualify, and whether entitlement is reduced or reset following repeated periods of sickness absence.